Chapter Two

“He’s a tall drink of water.”

Dyna turned to where her mother stood in the kitchen looking fresh and classy, her designer jeans fitting like a glove and her white silk blouse decorated with a floral scarf, their two border collies Butch and Sundance at her feet.

"He'll do in a pinch." Glancing down at the frayed tears in her old jeans and the battered shape of her favorite working boots, Dyna tossed her strawberry-red hair (she hated that term) and decided she needed to get on with things. "Daylight's burning. If he can help me with Domino, he's fine in my book."

"Told you that bronc could never be fully tamed," Wendy Malloy retorted. "Your daddy made a bad decision, keeping that one around."

"I don't want the gelding fully tamed, Mama," Dyna replied, tired of this particular conversation. "I want him trained for the rodeo. I want him to take on the best of the best and beat them all. He was doing that up until a few weeks ago."

She didn’t bother reminding her mother that Dyna had begged her daddy not to send Domino to a horrible fate. She knew what happened to untamable horses. So Dallas Malloy had caved and let her keep Domino around. That had paid off.

Domino wasn’t stupid. He’d tolerated being loaded in and out, learned what going into a chute meant and had managed to do what was expected of him because he knew he’d be fed and watered and pampered when he was away from an arena. He also tolerated Dyna. Never once had he bucked her off when she first started training him or tried to stomp her to death in the many round pen sessions they’d had together.

Maybe he was just tired, same as her.

“He’s all yours, suga’,” her daddy had told her when Domino was born. “If you can’t turn him into a prize winning bronc, at least he can live out his life in peace right here.”

“I believe in Domino,” she said, to dispute her mother’s admonishments.

You sound just like your daddy," Wendy said, shaking her head, her own dark blonde bob glistening in an expensive glow of beauty salon gold. "Stubborn to the bitter end."

"Well, he did teach me everything I need to know," Dyna reminded her mother after hearing that hint of longing in her words. She knew her mother grieved, but Wendy had managed to move past her grief, to keep it tucked inside a secret place while she put on a façade for the world. Dyna clung to her grief with each day that passed.

I don't know why you always have to push back regarding Edwin," Wendy said on a petulant note. "He's only looking out for your best interest."

The doorbell's dinner bell ring caused Dyna to hold up a hand. Butch and Sundance both woofed and headed for the door. "Enough. Edwin's pick for the job is here and I'll show him the respect he deserves."

"Because he's a Knight," Wendy said, coming around the massive high white table that served as a counter, breakfast area and sometimes work desk. "Not because Edwin knows what he's talking about."

Yes, the Knights are good people. Now go and enjoy your dinner with your country club friends. You can tell all of them what a horrible daughter I am.”

Dyna didn't wait for her mother's retort. Wendy knew her only daughter didn't like how she’d started dating so soon after Daddy's death. Six months too soon for Edwin to suddenly take over their lives. Or rather, he’d tried to do that. Dyna wouldn’t let him get far.

Edwin wasn’t the only bone of contention between mother and daughter but he was high up on the list.

Once her mother headed toward the garage, Dyna hushed the dogs and sent them into the office. Then she hurried up the hallway and opened the front door to greet Rico Knight with a smile while she tried to ignore her erratic pulse and wobbly knees.

"Mr. Knight, I'm Dyna Malloy. So good of you to come."

"Rico," he said, his smile firmly registering on the killer level, his handshake strong and too warm. “Call me Rico.”

"Then call me Dyna," she replied, waving him inside. "We still have fresh coffee. I tend to have an extra cup this time of day to get me through."

"I'd love some," he said, following her down the long, wide red-tiled hallway to the back of the ranch house. "This house is amazing."

"It's been here for close to one hundred years," she said, love for her home making her go soft. "Been through fires, drought, the Depression, lots of failed grape crops and other crops, but we finally settled on raising livestock and maintaining fruit and produce. Over five hundred acres. We've remodeled and modernized this main house but the bones are still here."

When she turned he wasn't admiring the house anymore. More like, he was admiring her bones. Or maybe her backside. So much for being professional, she thought.

But strangely enough, the fact that he'd acknowledged her as a female made Dyna feel all warm inside. With all the men who worked on this ranch, it was hard to tell if she had any feminine bones left. Her employees tended to go around her to get Edwin's advice these days. She was so tired of trying to stake her claim and gain their respect but she didn’t have much choice. Her father had left this ranch in her care and she intended to keep it moving and growing.

That meant hiring and firing people and always trying to do her best to raise rodeo horses that could win. That included barrel racing, cutting and roping, and dressage training right along with taming saddle broncs. Not to mention, watching over the other livestock and the cash crops in the fields.

Thankfully, she had good, dedicated people to help her and because of her father’s legacy, they did respect her. Some of them flirted with her, but she handled that with a firm NO and a reminder about sexual harassment.

Her last trainer had decided he’d rather spar with a female boss over every little issue more than he wanted to work with horses and clients. But he wasn’t very good with horses or humans, now that she thought about it. She’d kept him on for way too long anyway. He was gone for good now, though.

And yet another one brought here by that aggravating, overbearing man who had her mother fooled. Tired of trying to stay one step ahead of Edwin, Dyna vowed she wouldn’t let this happen again.

She didn't have time to feel excited about a man noticing her. She'd given up on men when her last boyfriend liked the bottle and other women way more than he liked her. He wanted her money and he wanted someone to take care of him, but he did not want to get help for his drinking problem and he sure didn't want to learn about the hard work of running a working livestock ranch and raising broncs for the rodeo.

Somehow, she could see Rico as wild and crazy, too. A real womanizer. Because that killer smile said it all. But his credentials indicated he took the rodeo very seriously. Just like his older cousins who’d formed the Knight Investigation Agency to assist and protect the hard-working people whose livelihoods depended on the circuit. If something fishy hit the circuit, the Knight brothers figured it out and corrected it. Rico probably held that same standard in his work. She did appreciate that.

"So tell me about Domino," he said when she handed him a steaming cup of strong coffee. "I hear he's one ornery painted horse."

"He's a real piece of work," she replied, impressed that he was getting down to business. "I'll go over the particulars and then you can meet him yourself."

"And ride him," Rico replied on a voice as calm as the palm trees and cactus bushes outside in the courtyard.

"Ride him?" Dyna put down her own coffee. "You might want to reconsider that. He's caused many a cowboy to walk away sideways."

“And he’s done a one-eighty on that, from what I’ve been told.” Rico winked at her and drained his cup. "Maybe he's about to meet his match."

And maybe she had just met her match, too.